EnergyAustralia has announced it will close one of the four generating units at Yallourn, blaming rising costs and falling demand.

Clean Energy Council chief executive David Green said if Australia was serious about transitioning to a clean future, then such shifts in the way electricity was generated were to be expected.

“Six weeks ago, renewable energy was wrongly criticised in some quarters for not reducing emissions and now Australia’s 20 per cent renewable energy target has been criticised for being too effective,” Green said.

“The fact is, the renewable energy target is doing exactly what it is supposed to: aiding Australia’s transition to a cleaner energy system and hunting out the least-cost ways of doing this.

“While providing the country with clean energy such as solar, wind, bio-energy and hydro, it has also delivered billions of dollars in investment and thousands of jobs, along with increased protection against the volatile costs of fossil fuels. And it has the potential to deliver much more if kept in place and not tinkered with.”

CEC said the RET policy was under review by the Climate Change Authority, under pressure from some energy companies who want it scaled back to maintain their dominance of the market.

“People are using less fossil-fuelled electricity because of the increased contribution of large-scale clean energy such as wind, rising power prices, mild weather and better energy efficiency at home as well, as through technologies like solar power,” Green said.

“Contrary to the predictions of some doomsayers, the lights are still on and our energy sources are still secure.

“It’s not surprising the impact of all this is being felt by some of the big fossil-fuelled power generators.

“But it is too early to say whether any forecast reduction in demand for energy will be a long-term trend or whether it will increase again if we all turn the airconditioning on over a few hot summers, or the exchange rate changes and manufacturing picks up.”